John's April 1st Avoidance Dilemma

It was a beautiful spring afternoon in April. Air was still fresh from the yesterday's rain, but the sky was bright blue, without a single cloud in sight. Sun was shining bright, birds were singing, Mother Nature was in a good mood apparently, unlike yesterday.It was a perfect day for taking a stroll around a local park and enjoying a nice cup of coffee in peace while reading a book or newspaper, right? A lot of people used this kind of day to just relax and enjoy the nice weather. Well, almost everyone. For one individual it was completely opposite. This is where our story takes off.

John, a 21-year old college student, had a day off. He usually worked on weekends, but his boss at a coffee shop across town said he didn't have to come in today. Which is fine and all, but considering what day it is...it's time for the bane of John's exsistence. April the 1st aka April Fools' Day.

Ever since he could remember, there was always this hype about April Fools' Day. Children would prank each other at school or in his neighborhood where they would chase him and try to persuade him to join in. Which he never did, mind you. He even had a favorite cousin who's born on April 1st.

In John's humble opinion it was a pretty stupid holiday, and that's putting it nicely. Who wastes a whole day running around like an idiot pranking poor, unsuspecting people? Oh, that's right, his lame friends did. 'Uh, I should really make some new friends. I still have nighmares about last year's prank.', John thought as he went to the kitchen to make a late lunch, it was around 3 PM after all. He sure slept in longer than he usually did on his day off. Sometimes when he had days off, he has to work on a project for one of his college classes or cram for the exams. Speaking of which, he should really start on that assignment for his Social Studies course. He just doesn't know where to start, and it's like that for every assignment professors give them. One of them reminds him of Professor Snape from "Harry Potter". He is strict, blunt and hard to read...and he seems to hold a grudge against him specifically. But never mind that right now. He has more important matters to attend to than to agonize over his professor's supposed grudge. He needs an avoidance plan and he needs it fast.

Here is where his dilemma starts. If he were at work, chances of him being pranked were close to none, his other friends also have work or classes. But since he's home, his friends could barge in or worse, they could order him a stripper or make it seem like he did something he didn't. Or get him drunk. Now that would be annoying. But how to avoid being pranked this year? 'Think John, think! Use that lump of a brain for once in your life, this is a matter of life and...okay, maybe not death, but close enough. I'm being overly dramatic, but I just want to avoid being pranked!', John muttered to himself as he paced around his apartment. So he did the only thing that helped him calm down when he's stressed-he started cleaning. He knows that will help him.

He came up with a brilliant idea while cleaning his apartment- he won't answer his calls or open the door! Yes, he'll be a shut-in for today. 'I'm such a genius sometimes. Ha, take that, April 1st! You'll never get me alive!', John thought smugly as he continued cleaning. Everything will be just fine.

'Who would've thought cleaning could be so exhausting? I feel as though my arms and legs will fall off! Good thing I'm done.', John thought as he put the vacuum cleaner and other stuff away. The clock said 4:35 PM. He'd been cleaning for an hour and a half. Time sure flies by fast when you're having fun...if you can call stress cleaning fun.

After that, the rest of John's day slowly went by without much hapening. No calls, no unexpected visits, no jump scares...it was strange, but much appreciated. John returned to bed after his cleaning spree, binge watched his favorite anime on his laptop, ate some snacks and then promptly fell asleep when the episode ended. For someone who was stressed out about being pranked, he was out like a light.

John woke up around 8 PM, still groggy from sleeping. 'Man, can't believe I fell asleep, I was looking forward to watching this show, I heard it's really good. Wait, how long was I asleep?', John asked himself as he looked around for his phone, which was conveniently placed on the other pillow on the bed. What he saw on the phone screen made him freeze.

It said '8:05 PM, April 2nd.' April 2nd, not April 1st. John was shocked to say the least. So basically, he was panicking the whole day for nothing?! Great, just great. But how did he not know what day it is today?

Then suddenly he remembered-he came home late the other night, his shift at the coffee shop was longer than usual, so he just dragged himself off to bed without even checking his phone. He was pretty tired.

'Yeah, that's why I thought April Fools' was today. Haha, I guess I pranked myself good! Oh well, at least I got to laze around all day.', John thought happily.

In the end, there was no need for John to worry about surviving the day. Unknowingly he managed to do it, though it was amusing to watch his struggles to come up with a, what he called, "an avoidance plan". He could've done without all of this if he'd just looked at his phone, but it happens to the best of us. As he said, he pranked himself. All's well that ends well.